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UNITED STATES · 2008
The Dark Knight
Synopsis
Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.
Cinema Atlas Connection
Christopher Nolan made his brother Jonathan watch Fritz Lang's The Testament of Dr. Mabuse — a 1933 German thriller in which a criminal mastermind orchestrates chaos from inside an asylum — to understand what the Joker needed to be: not a man who wants things, but a force of entropy who only wants to watch the system collapse. Lang made this film as the Nazis were rising. The Joker's speech about plans is Mabuse.
Fritz Lang's 'M' was an influence, for the idea of a whole city getting caught up in the hunt for a monster, and the idea of what that monster really means.
— Christopher Nolan · LA Times Hero Complex: Christopher Nolan on ‘The Dark Knight’: The full Q&A
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